Dustox
by kaori kuni
Summary: There's people who all they care about is strong pokemon. And there are others that only have eyes for the pretty ones. The story of a Wurmple from Petalburg Woods.


Dustox

_"There's people who all they care about is strong pokemon. And there are others that only have eyes for the pretty ones."_

It was a Saturday afternoon, and the pokemon at Petalburg's Woods enjoyed the warm sun's rays passing through the tree's branches.

Deep in the woods, a wild Wurmple was resting on a clearing. That day a bug catcher had chased him with a Nincada, leaving it tired after fortunately losing them by hiding in the bushes.

It's not like it wasn't interested in adventuring alongside a trainer, but it disliked those who captured everything in their way, accumulating a ridiculous amount of pokemon. And that would be the usual bug catcher seen on the woods.

The Wurmple enjoyed the warmth that surrounded it, that is, until it heard faint noises in the woods. Curious, it went closer to the source of the noises. Usually those annoying bug catchers left early, hoping to catch something on their way home, reason why this Wurmple preferred to live on the deeper part of the woods.

Soon enough, it found the origin of the noise: it was a girl and a Skitty fighting a Shroomish. The girl commanded the Skitty to scratch the plant pokemon, and after a while said pokemon fainted from exhaustion. Meanwhile, the Wurmple observed, and when the battle reached its end, the Wurmple started its way back to where it'd been resting.

Yet it was stopped by the girl and her Skitty. Said pokemon growled before speeding towards the Wurmple, smelling the bug pokemon once it got close to it. The Wurmple stared back at the cat pokemon for a few seconds, only to start again its march towards the clearing.

And for a second time it was stopped: the girl commented on how cute and pretty the little bug pokemon was, and commanded her Skitty weaken it. The Skitty followed its instructions and viciously scratched Wurmple, who shot string at the Skitty once it stopped its assault. The cat pokemon couldn't move anymore, as its legs had been immobilized, but the girl threw a pok ball at the Wurmple before it had a chance to do anything else.

A few seconds later the pokemon had been captured in the ball, unable to escape the device. It was hers now.

Once the girl had gone back to her house, she opened her new pokemon's ball. It observed with curiosity its new surroundings, and when it focused back on her, she presented it to her Skitty and Goldeen. She petted the Wurmple told it they would travel together from that moment on, and the bug pokemon leaned to her touch in acceptance.

A few days later, the girl went back to the Woods, but rather than adventuring into the depths, that day she decided to stay in the outskirts. It was a hot day and entering the forest at such an hour would surely get her flustered. Once arriving to a decent looking place, she released her Skitty and Wurmple.

With a smile, it told the Wurmple its job was to observe Skitty's movements, so it would get an idea of what fighting was about. With ease they defeated a hand of bug pokemon, and as if on cue, a bug catcher approached them and asked for a battle. The girl chose to fight with her bug pokemon, and the bug catcher sent out a Nincada. Ironically, it was the same Nincada that had chased the bug pokemon the day it'd been catched, which made the Wurmple a little nervous.

But thanks to its trainer commands, Wurmple defeated the Nincada with skill and precision. The bug pokemon noted how stronger it had gotten since being captured, and was surprised at the difference between the strengh between wild and trained pokemon. Certainly having a trainer proved to be quite an adventure.

The bug catcher, defeated, silently gave the girl some money, before walking away into the forest. The girl cheered her pokemon and gave it a piece of a berry as a treat for its good job.

As hours passed, the girl and her pokemon worked hard, fighting against wild pokemon. Once late afternoon came, the girl got her pokemon back on their pokeballs and walked back home, satisfied by the day's accomplishments.

The next day, while on a stroll, Wurmple started shinning out of the sudden. After the light faded, Wurmple had transformed into a cocoon. Unable to move on its own anymore, it stared at its trainer. The girl was surprised for a moment, and then smiled as she picked her now evolved pokemon.

When they arrived home, the girl showed the red-eyed pokemon a picture of what it would eventually evolve into. She sounded excited, and the pokemon was happy to be the cause of its trainer joy. In the few time it had been with its trainer it had grown fond of her gentleness and the care it showed to her pokemon. The bug pokemon was happy to have found the girl; the pain that had been caused by the Skitty was definitely worth it.

Days passed as the trainer went with her pokemon to the wild and trained them, occasionally battling other trainers.

And then, the day came. The cocoon pokemon shone in bright light once again, and within seconds the light faded slowly, revealing the pokemon's new form. Excited, the pokemon got closer to its trainer so she could pet it.

But said pet never came. Instead, the girl stood still in surprise, frowning.

"But what happened...?"

Still frowning, the girl grabbed her pokemon's poke ball and called it back. She walked back home, every once in a while casting some quick looks to her bug pokemon's ball.

Once home, all it took was a quick look at her pokemon guide to find out what had gone wrong.

"Now... what am I going to do with you?"

The next day, she went to a park near her house. There, she released her three pokemon, and both Skitty and Goldeen wandered in a small pond near the seat their trainer was at.

"I was convinced you would end up as the Beautifly I showed you the other day. I didn't know that you could also evolve into the form you now have: you're a Dustox, a poison type of pokemon."

She sighed in frustration. Dustox, surprised by the new information, looked at its new wings and body. Certainly it was different from the picture it had been shown days before. The Dustox could understand her disappointment yet... it felt like she was disappointed at it, like it was the pokemon's fault.

Dustox felt sad, it'd failed its trainer. It wanted joy for her, but instead she ended disappointed. She'd been nice to it back when it was a Wurmple, yet it couldn't thank her properly. Dustox ended staring at the ground, ashamed of itself.

The girl sighed once again, before standing from the seat and calling her other pokemon back. Once they were all in their poke balls, she made her way back home.

Dustox was eager to go train again; it wanted to show its trainer how strong it had become. After evolving, Dustox found it could use new attacks, maybe this new strength would make its trainer happy.

But instead, she would only call her other pokemon: Skitty, Goldeen, and a new pokemon called Swablu, which she'd gotten from a machine. Dustox could only watch from its pokeball as its comrades did their best, pleasing their trainer. Was she mad at the poison pokemon?

Days went by, until she left Dustox at home one day. Had Dustox disappointed her beyond forgiveness?

The next day Dustox was excited when it realized its trainer was taking it along. They went to a building called "Poke Centre", and she walked to the machine where she'd gotten the Swablu. Putting Dustox ball on a table, the machine's screen lighted and displayed the three basic options: Deposit, Switch and Release.

If Dustox had been outside it's ball it'd have seen the girl about to press the "Release" button, but after reconsidering her options, she went for "Deposit". Dustox was now stored in the girl's box. There, the pokemon could see all her other deposited pokemon, such as Masquerain, Horsea, Luvdisk, Kirlia, Azurrill, Plusle, and many others.

Dustox saw as the Luvdisk was withdrew from the box, and it realized it'd been replaced. This hit the pokemon hard. What had happened to all the love she'd given it? It meant nothing? And the love Dustox felt for its trainer also meant nothing?

But time passed and its questions answered themselves: she was leaving Dustox in the box. What hurt the most was how she would often switch her other pokemon, while leaving Dustox in the box. She would often change teams and withdraw pokemon to train them. Her Skitty was now a Delcatty and her Azurrill had long ago evolved into a Azumarill. It seemed that Roselia and Spheal were her favourites, as they were the ones that were outside the box the most.

Yet it seemed there was another pokemon that she wouldn't take with her. A Loudred. Dustox remembered that it would go outside quite a lot back when it was a Whismur, but one day it came back as a Loudred, and never went back outside.

And that's when Dustox realized that it didn't matter how strong it was, how hard it tried, it would never get her attention: Dustox wasn't pretty enough. Dustox had thought its trainer wanted to go on adventure together, yet she was aiming for cute companions. It hurt deeply, not being able to be what its trainer was looking for. Dustox never had a chance, if only it hadn't evolved.

Soon, Loudred was released into the wild, and Dustox thought about the possibility. If the poison pokemon was released, then it would have failed its trainer and there was nothing to do; but staying at the box, ignored by the pretty pokemon, which were now all except Dustox; was painful.

Time passed, and Dustox was sure she'd forgotten about it. She wouldn't even bother to switch the Dustox into a separate box, as she'd done in the past when organising her pokemon. Surprisingly, one day she took Dustox out.

"I'm sorry, but what could I've done with you? You're not what I wanted. But now you'll be free to be whatever you want. Good bye."

But the only thing Dustox wanted was to make her happy, to be with her. That's what she promised the day they'd met. Why did she break her promise? If it had known back then what was going to happen...

Dustox flew away, only once looking back to its former trainer, to the woods it had once lived in. After a while it landed on a tree branch.

It staid there, unmoving, and as days passed it could feel its body ache for a berry to eat, yet Dustox couldn't find the will to move. Its body hurt both from sadness and starvation, but no pain would move Dustox.

One day a trainer noticed the weak Dustox on the tree branch. It sent out a Zigzagoon and instructed it to weaken the poison pokemon, who didn't react at all to the attacks. Losing interest after noticing the Dustox wouldn't defend itself, the trainer called his pokemon back.

"Just another weak, ugly pokemon."

Dustox found itself agreeing, and soon it lost consciousness. After a while its body shut down, unable to keep going.

In the depths of Petalburg Woods, the body of a Dustox lied on a clearing. Nobody cared of the suffering it had gone through, the only proof that it ever existed being the lifeless body on the floor.

**A.N.:** I tried to write something sad... but I guess I failed. Hehe... This is sort of based on my own experience. When I first got a Wurmple I was like... cool, the new caterpiee. And a few battles after... I had this ugly Dustox, which I ditched on my PC box... and now that I'm replaying the game and battled a Wurmple, I thought: Hey... I bet other people have done the same. Especially if they've watched the anime and were hoping for that Beautifly...- Now I feel mean.

Pleaase review and tell me what you think! :)


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